SassyMcSassalot:I've found that the broccoli stalks are good too, if you peel them. Take the outer layer off, and slice the center into circles. They kind of taste like water chestnuts to me. But you have to get that tough outer layer off.

When I was a (pain-in-the-ass) kid, I would only eat the stalks, not the florets. Didn't like the texture of the florets. Nowadays, it's all good...

elleeffe:The Why Not Guy: Zucchini in Italian is Cugoots. How can you hate something called Cugoots?

Zucchini are awesome.. but Zucchini in Italian is Zucchini... where did you think the name in English came from?now if someone from the backwoods taught you some local dialect word and passed it for Italian... but at least don't go around insulting my lovely language...as we say in Italian "Cugoots sara' tua sorella!"

Methinks the OP is being confused by the French word for zucchini, 'courgette'.

lordargent:DannyJunior: Matchstick and sautee some zucchini and yellow squash with a bit of butter and salt. heirloom tomatoes and brown sugar-chili glazed salmon optional.

A friend of mine brought me some giant zucchini once from her parents house (they have some mutant plants or something), so I cooked them up.

Not mutant plants, just picked too late - unlike many other veggies, they will continue to get larger if left on the plant longer. They don't taste very good when they're that big, though. If I'm stuffing them, I let them get as big as 2" diameter, but for sauteeing, I try to pick pretty small, about 1" diameter. Baseball bat zucchini goes right in the compost, and only happens if I go on vacation.

Virtuoso80:I think much of our vegetable hatred comes from our childhoods. My mother, bless her heart, was a terrible cook. Only later in life did learn that home-cooked chicken did not have to be a nauseatingly bland and dry affair, and that things like spinach and brussel sprouts could actually taste good. Chinese take-out had already taught me that broccoli could taste good with the right sauce, but I had to wait until I went to a good Italian restaurant to find joy in spinach, and a good French restaurant to enjoy brussel sprouts (They were served as little crisped shells on top of the meat. Good stuff).

Leeks, who doesn't enjoy leeks? They're just subtle onions. Beets? Certainly have their place. Carrots? Sweet and versatile, as long as you don't cook them to death. The only one I still haven't found a joy in: Cauliflower. What exactly is it's purpose?

/The one thing I did learn from my mother: The best topping for apple pie is a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. Mmmmmmmm.

Cauliflower raw is just bland. I recommend the Alton Brown episode on it and 2 other recipes:

Please list the foods that you don't like so that I can pick one I think is delicious and you're crazy for not liking :P

// look upthread, I'm not the only one who thinks beets are disgusting. I'm in good company.

Isn't is amazing how people don't understand that people can taste differently? It's a fact, scientists have noted the genetics for it and it the actual taste buds can be different between individuals.

It is actually the case that people who like green vegetables have less of the taste receptors on their tongue for the nasty bitter flavours green vegetables like broccoli contain. When someone says that green vegetables taste nasty, it is true for them because they can really taste something the veggie lovers cannot. When people insist that their green veggies taste great they simply don't have the receptors to pick up the nasty flavours. The experience is actually different for different people.

Also, why the f*ck do people get so concerned about what other people eat? Want to share a recipe, fine, want to berate someone for not liking something you like, maybe go find something constructive to do.

A big reason is healthy eating, how many people do you know that limit their veggies to potatoes and corn because they "don't like veggies"?

In America there is an abundance of food but we limit ourselves to starchy veggies, bread, meat and cheese. That is NOT a healthy diet.

Also, many people's parents couldn't cook veggies worth a damn and overboiled them, making them taste horrible. Cooking food well takes skill and a varied diet is the key to health.